About PEER

The aim of PEER is to investigate the effects of large-scale, systematic depositing of authors’ final peer-reviewed manuscripts. This is done by developing an 'observatory' to monitor the effects of systematic archiving over time and by creating a substantial body of evidence. Participating publishers will collectively contribute approx. 240 journals to the project and supporting research studies will address issues such as:

How large-scale archiving will affect journal viability

Whether it increases access

How it will affect the broader ecology of European research

Which factors influence the readiness to deposit in institutional and disciplinary repositories and what the associated costs might be

Models to illustrate how traditional publishing systems can coexist with self-archiving.